PRATTVILLE -- Prattville High School Lions special teams coach Mike McCabe has seen a lot of kickers and punters come through his One on One Kicking camps over the past few years.
When you churn out legitimate NFL prospects and land scholarships for 95 percent of your campers, word tends to spread quickly and long lines begin to form.
McCabe has watched his business grow from a single camp to four permanent sites in three states.
And this winter, he got his first taste of the international market when two professional rugby players from Great Britain showed up on his doorstep.
"They wanted to try and make it in the NFL as free agents," McCabe said. "They, or their agent, looked around for a good place for them to train and called on us. We took a look at them and saw there were some things we could definitely improve on. And here we are."
Actually, here they are -- brothers Tom and Huw Collins, NFL kickers in training. The Collins brothers have spent the last four months in the United States, bouncing around from hotel to hotel while working with McCabe and others on the various nuances of place-kicking in American football.
"Our agent, Nick Maytheum, actually had the idea to do this," Tom said. "He wanted to put a pro rugby player over here and see if they had a shot, because the styles are similar. He found us, talked us into it and then we found (McCabe). We came over and had him watch us work out. He said he thought he could have us ready to try out in a couple of months. We said, 'See you next week.'"
And they did.
Less than 10 days later, Tom (25) and Huw (21) had ditched life in London and, thanks to a sponsorship deal with adidas, moved into a hotel room in Prattville. For the better part of the last four months, that's where they've lived.
"The poor maid there -- she's had to clean our awful room every day for four months," Tom said smiling. "Overall, it hasn't been bad at all here (in Prattville). And it's been great for our training. There are no distractions here."
Through that training, they quickly learned that there's much more to this place-kicking thing than meets the eye. In rugby, they placed the ball on a tee, took their time lining up and kicked whenever they were ready. In American football, there were several other factors to consider.
"Here, you must worry about two other people -- the snapper and the holder," Huw said. "And everything has to work just so. That's been the hardest thing to pick up -- the timing. And it's something we're still working on, along with our technique."
They're also still working on Americanizing themselves. After all, if everything works out, this will be their new home.
Since they've been here, they believe they've made some significant progress. But routine mistakes are still common. Like using "match" instead of "game" when talking about a recent football game. Or using the metric system for measurements.
By far the biggest problem, though, has been their accent.
"There are times when we're talking to people and they look as if they're completely uninterested in what we're saying to them. They've got this blank look on their face and they're obviously not listening to what we're saying," Tom said. "But then you realize, it's because they've got no bloody idea what you're talking about. And here, they're too polite to tell you that you've lost them."
Making matters even worse is the fact that Tom and Huw spend 90 percent of their time talking to each other, which eliminates any chance of their accents softening.
"When we talk, we use all the slang and that just completely loses people here," Tom said. "We've actually got comfortable talking with a few people here and slipped into just our normal conversation. Oh, the other people have no idea. We might as well be speaking a different language."
Despite the communication issues, Huw said he and his brother have made a number of friends in the area -- most of them at Starbucks and Outback Steakhouse, two of the Collins brothers' favorite hangouts.
The new friends will make leaving the area tough, but it's also convinced them that they're making the right move.
"I don't think that either of us will have any problems calling this country our home," Huw said. "We've met so many nice people who have been so good to us that it would take a lot to sway our opinion now."
Of course, hanging around is dependent upon one thing -- making an NFL roster at some point.
They know that the path to the NFL, particularly for a couple of guys who haven't spent the last 10 years working and training as place-kickers, will be a long shot.
"We're confident in our abilities, especially after being able to see the progress we've made in a short time here," Huw said. "The thing that gives us a leg up on other kickers, I believe, is that we're totally committed to doing this and we'll spend all day, every day working at it. We'll sacrifice anything to accomplish our goal."
While he knows they're not yet ready for the NFL, McCabe said the Collins brothers do have the talent and potential to make the league -- eventually. He told them right up front that obtaining a free agent deal could take as long as five years.
However, neither Huw nor Tom believes him.
"That's for normal free agents," Tom said with a smile.
McCabe, as he does often during his conversations with the Collins brothers, rolls his eyes and shakes his head slowly.
"If it depends on confidence, they'll go far," McCabe said. "No, in all honesty, they can do this. If they continue to work as they have been and continue to improve, they'll get there."
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